US (CT): Crop One buys blighted Hartford property

Crop One Holdings, a San Jose, Calif., farming company seeking to upend the industry with hydroponics and space-efficient growing, was approved Monday to purchase a Homestead Avenue property for $250,000 that has stood blighted and vacant for years.

Hartford’s city council also voted in favor of a tax agreement that relieves Crop One Holdings of all real estate taxes accumulated by improving the property during its first five years. The agreement also waives a sizable percentage of Crop One Holdings' personal property taxes during the same period.

Crop One has promised the city that 25 percent of the 75 workers it plans to hire would be Hartford residents, with a goal of increasing that share to 40 percent.